As hot as the Yankees were coming into their series against the Angels, it was more than just rain showers that cooled them off.
Nothing can halt momentum quite like poor pitching.
The Yankees got more of that Thursday as Nestor Cortes turned in his latest rough start in a 9-4 loss to the Angels on a miserable, wet night in The Bronx.
Yankees played the Los Angeles Angels. Robert Sabo for NY Post
After Will Warren got rocked for an 8-2 loss in the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Cortes did not make it out of a six-run fifth inning Thursday as the Yankees (68-48) dropped the series after winning three straight.
“They battled me the whole night,” Cortes said. “Conditions were tough. … But it’s no excuse. We both battled through that. Both teams had that adversity, and they were the better team today.”
To make matters worse, Anthony Volpe exited the game in the eighth inning with “left foot pain” after fouling a ball off it in the second inning.
X-rays were negative, and Boone was hopeful that the shortstop would be fine.
The Angels (51-64) beat up Cortes for six runs on nine hits and a walk across 4 ²/₃ innings.
The left-hander had looked better his last time out, when he tossed 5 ²/₃ innings of three-run ball against the Phillies last Wednesday, but he took a step back against the Angels.
Cortes now owns a 9.26 ERA over his last five starts, giving up 24 runs across 23 ¹/₃ innings while not making it through five innings in four of those games.
“I feel like physically the ball’s coming out [good], and the stuff’s there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Just comes down to that next level of execution and then like tonight, when you get in those two-strike situations, putting guys away.”
Cortes has some company in a rotation that has largely struggled over the last two months, but Boone expressed confidence Thursday that the Yankees “have everything we need.”
While the conditions — a steady mist with sporadic heavier showers — did Cortes no favors, they didn’t seem to bother Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson, who kept the Yankees in check across six strong innings in which he gave up just one run (a Jazz Chisholm Jr. home run) and three hits.
“Tough conditions [for] both teams,” Boone said. “Just not a great night for us.”
The only saving grace on the night for the Yankees was the Orioles also losing to the Blue Jays, keeping the two squads tied atop the AL East.
Cortes entered the fifth inning trying to keep a 2-1 deficit intact.
Around getting the first two outs, he had a 10-pitch battle with No. 9 hitter Michael Stefanic that resulted in a single.
But Zach Neto, who had a field day in the doubleheader, followed with a double as the skies began to open up and the rain intensified.
Long Island’s Logan O’Hoppe then walked to load the bases before Kevin Pillar reached out for an 0-2 sinker in the other batter’s box and blooped a two-run single into shallow right field to put the Angels up 4-1, ending Cortes’ night.
“To their credit, they fouled off a lot of good pitches that I threw tonight,” Cortes said. “I felt like today was a pretty good command day for me. There might have been one or two pitches where I wished to get back, but other than that, thought I made a lot of good pitches.”
Enyel De Los Santos entered and walked Anthony Rendon to reload the bases, which got cleared when Jo Adell hit a sinking liner to right field that went just under the glove of a diving Juan Soto.
The ball trickled past Soto and allowed all three runs to score for the 7-1 lead.
“Tonight wasn’t our night,” Boone said. “I actually thought Nestor threw the ball OK, wasn’t giving up a ton of hard contact. Had a hard time putting guys away tonight. They were spoiling pitches. He’d get to two strikes, couldn’t finish guys off.”
